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Time for what’s left of ‘Ford Nation’ to tell this mayor to go: Editorial

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s crack video is allegedly linked to blackmail, kidnapping, a death threat, extortion and a payoff offered by Ford. Still think he should stay?

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford wags his finger at city councillors as they vote to limit the mayor's office budget on Nov. 18. (David Cooper / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Thu., Dec. 5, 2013

The latest documents from Toronto police should silence the last deluded members of Ford Nation who argue that what their mayor does outside the office — even if it’s smoking crack cocaine — shouldn’t detract from his political record. In fact, Mayor Rob Ford’s excesses have irrevocably tainted his administration. His persistent lies, denials and blind faith in being re-elected hurt the entire city.

This is what happens when a chief executive sinks to the point of doing cocaine – perhaps even heroin, according to the documents – in the company of gangsters.

Ford’s out-of-control drug use has resulted in wiretap descriptions of blackmail, kidnapping, a death threat, extortion and a $5,000 payoff, plus a car, allegedly proffered to a drug dealer. The money and car were said to be offered by Ford in exchange for damning footage showing the mayor sucking on a crack pipe.

The proffer wasn’t accepted by the man with the video, Mohamed Siad, because, as he said on tape, he intended to ask for $150,000. Pause a moment and think about that — it appears the mayor of Canada’s largest city was effectively being blackmailed by drug dealers.

On another tape, a gangster boasted that he wasn’t afraid of punishment because he had photos of Ford “on a pipe.” How can anyone still think Ford’s excesses should be considered apart from his job?

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In classic Ford fashion, in a radio interview Thursday morning, the mayor claimed the allegation he had made an offer for the video was an “outright lie.” But why would drug dealers in a discussion among themselves — not knowing that police are listening — put on a show, pretending there was an offer that never existed?

Evidence collected by police, and contained in an almost 500-page affidavit, hasn’t been tested in court. But only the most gullible Ford fancier would trust the mayor’s version of this so-called “lie.” He has a long and disgraceful record of brazen denials followed by confession of wrongdoing and a promise never to do it again. Regarding Ford’s alleged attempt to buy the video, it makes more sense to believe the drug dealers than Toronto’s chief magistrate. That, in itself, is a sad comment on how low this mayor has fallen.

It gets worse. Police wiretaps also reveal gang members discussing Siad’s subsequent kidnapping and how the abducted man had cried and claimed he had destroyed the video. After threatening to kill him, the men released Siad but another thug told the kidnappers: “You guys are stupid; you should have really hurt him.”

Perhaps that goon was psychic. Siad was stabbed in jail shortly after being arrested last June in a Toronto police crackdown on guns and gangs. For his own safety, he was put in segregation.

There’s other violence associated with this story. Two out of the three gang members posing with Ford, in a now-familiar photo outside a known crack house, ended up being shot. One of them was killed. This is where the notorious crack video was recorded. Shortly after news surfaced that the video was for sale, occupants of the drug den were beaten in a home invasion.

It seems notably unhealthy to be associated with Ford’s hard-partying lifestyle.

For the sake of any Ford Nation member slow to catch on, let’s recap: A video of the mayor — footage that he once claimed didn’t exist — has now been allegedly linked to a kidnapping, blackmail, violence, a death threat and extortion. Do you still think this stuff doesn’t matter?

Think about Toronto’s sinking reputation. Media monitoring statistics, released to the Canadian Press, indicate that the Ford saga was the most-covered story in the world at one point last month. It has received more intense media attention in the United States than any Canadian story in this century, with Ford bombarded by interview requests from U.S. news networks, talk shows and reality programs. Deaf to irony, the mayor opted to participate Thursday in a Washington, D.C., radio program called “Sports Junkies.”

It’s fair to wonder, given the abundance of available evidence, why police haven’t yet charged Ford. Police Chief Bill Blair has come under criticism, from some quarters, for treating Ford differently than other offenders. It does seem odd that Ford can still correctly claim he hasn’t been charged with any criminal offence, especially in light of his series of meetings with an accused drug dealer in which suspicious packages were clearly exchanged.

But it’s important to bear in mind that the public doesn’t have full knowledge of what police are investigating. They may be pursuing even more serious lines of inquiry, giving them good reason to hold off on an immediate bust. Blair has said he put his top investigators on this file and trusts their judgment on how to proceed. Certainly, given the extraordinary police effort made in this case, and the shocking revelations produced so far, it’s hard to claim that officers have been cutting Ford a break. The mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford, certainly doesn’t think so.

It’s time for Ford Nation, or what’s left of it, to take a hard line, too. Voicing support for this hopelessly defective leader only encourages him to stay. It enables his destructive behaviour. Toronto should speak with a unanimous voice, and it should tell Rob Ford to quit.

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